November 21, 2013 6:32 am

In the Trib this morning I looked at Russell Wilson’s MVP chances. On some early projections, he’s listed as high as No. 3 behind Peyton Manning and Drew Brees (Dan Graziano’s MVP Watch for ESPN). Amazing for a second-year, third-round draft pick to rise into that discussion this quickly.

Where would the Seahawks be without Wilson’s improvisational abilities during that seven weeks when the starting tackles were both out? To lead four game-winning drives this season and to lead them to the best record in the NFL warrants the attention.

It looks as if Manning will be hard to overtake. He’s got pretty close to MVP numbers (69.9 percent, 34 TDs-6 INTS, 3,572 yards) through just 10 games. Wilson would have to throw 3 TDs a game the rest of the way to catch up to where Manning’s TD total stands now.

Also, voters in these things are swayed by big numbers, particularly in total passing yards. Playing in a run-oriented scheme makes that unlikely for Wilson (Manning has nearly 50 percent more passing attempts than Wilson at this point).

And the only time in the history of the award that a quarterback has been an MVP as early as his second season in the NFL was in ’99 when Kurt Warner of St. Louis won it, and he was 28 years old after having played in Arena League for several years.

My thought is that the best shot for Wilson is continued team domination, which might cause voters to re-evaluate the importance of the non-statistical factors of leadership, versatility, etc. But, as we’ve seen for nearly two seasons, Wilson has a history of causing people to alter their perspectives and false assumptions.

–No big surprises to see that Walter Jones was included as a Hall of Fame semifinalist. His reputation in among the coaches and players in the league was actually much stronger than it was among fans across the country who might not have paid close attention to offensive linemen of the Seahawks for so many years.

The best description of Big Walt’s dominance I ever heard came from Ray Rhodes, when he was DC for Holmgren. When Rhodes got here, he was asked what it was like to coach defensive players who were tasked with facing Jones. Rhodes put it something like this: Here’s how good Walter Jones is … he brings you to work in a little paper bag … he sets down the bag and pulls you … he kicks your ass for about 3 hours … he puts you back in the bag and takes you home.

It was such a comical image of physical domination that I hope somebody tells the story when the HOF committee meets to discuss the candidates.

–ESPN.com’s Terry Blount takes a look at the Seahawks remaining path to the playoffs. He sees a 14-2 finish with the lone loss coming on the road in San Francisco. I think every game the rest of the way has some dangers, even the last two that might be overlooked, but Arizona is improving and the Rams are often a problem for the Hawks even if they’re struggling otherwise.

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Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

Wilson has zero shot at NFL MVP this year but a great shot at Super Bowl MVP.

I’d like to see him clean up his 4th quarter INTs. He’s already thrown 3 with the game on the line in the 4th quarter this year. 2 of them were against 2 win teams so the Defense was able to bail him out.

The Seahawks may need his 2012 late game magic to win the Super Bowl this year.

I said it before, but Manning is going to obliterate the TD paying record this year. The last 2 times it was broken, that QB won the MVP award by a wide margin. Same will apply this year no matter what Wilson or the Seahawks do. Earl a chance at DPOY only because of the national media buzz about the Legion of Boom. There isn’t much thought put into the votes. It has always been about national media buzz.

How anybody can read the above article by Dave and come away with the idea that Dave is claiming that Wilson actually has a chance to win the MVP over Manning or Brees is beyond fantasy.

I swear there are some people on here that have the comprehension and understanding of my dog. All she hears is blah, blah, Wickie, blah, blah food, blah, blah pottie…

Some posters on here can read an entire article and only get out of it something, something, Wilson, morestuff, otherthings, elite, didn’tgetit, what?, MVP, boringboring, HOP.

The article could be about what Russell’s favorite breakfast food is, but certain people on here will interpret it to be a through and complete agreement with their total and complete love and worship of Wilson.

Ok, I have to go back to reality. The nasty one where I have to go sit in my office all day and draft legal documents, argue with other lawyers, and tell my client that it isn’t fair that their Wife gets half of everything or that it isn’t fair that their husband actually has a right to see the children.

Was reading some of the posts on PFT’s blog about the HOF semi-finalists. There are actually people (most likely East Coast people) that are saying the only sure bets for the 1st year eligible guys are Dungy and Harrison. Many say that Will Shields should make it.

But the comments about Walter is that he’ll get in ‘eventually’ but he’s just not good enough to make it in his first year.

The curse of playing an entire career in Southern Alaska rears it’s ugly head again.

The Seahawks are the equivalent of the NFL Witness Protection Program. Go play for the Seahawks. Spend your life in total anonymity.

Unless Peyton busts that ankle and sits the rest of the season, he’s a shoe-in for MVP. His numbers are just too gaudy, and MVP voters love those numbers. And, as much as we can sit here and ask, “where would this team be without RW?” Broncos fans can say the same about Manning. Plus, he is the sentimental pick. And we all know how sentimental favorites turn out in the NFL (Bettis in SB XL anyone?).

Wilson has many great years ahead and should win an MVP or two if he maintains his current level of play. Like many of you have said, I’d take a SB MVP for RW over an NFL MVP.

“The Seahawks are the equivalent of the NFL Witness Protection Program. Go play for the Seahawks. Spend your life in total anonymity.”

It does seem that way, doesn’t it? But, I think guys like Tate and, even more so, Sherman, are actively working to change that. Love or hate all the talking Sherman does, it has gotten him attention.

There was an interesting soundbite from Mike and Mike from Monday saying something like is anyone noticing what the Seahawks are doing? They have the best record in the NFL, but nobody’s talking about them.

The issue with the Seahawks and notoriety is that they have only played 2 games against teams that currently have a winning record in the last 9 games. They are a mere 1-1 in those games. And Arizona had a losing record at the time so the hype wasn’t there. And then the Seahawks struggled against Houston, Ten, STL and TB.

To finish my point, the fans and media love when a team knockoff a team that is perceived to be a powerhouse at the time the game is played.

The Seahawks have done it just once – at home against the 49ers. The Colts gave the teams with the 2 best records their only losses (19-0 otherwise). Those 2 games buy the Colts and Luck enough hype for the rest of the year.

LOL chuck_easton,, you claim to be a lawyer but doesn’t seem like you’re very good at it… especially since you probably failed read the part below,,

Dave said : “My thought is that the best shot for Wilson is continued team domination, which might cause voters to re-evaluate the importance of the non-statistical factors of leadership, versatility, etc. But, as we’ve seen for nearly two seasons, Wilson has a history of causing people to alter their perspectives and false assumptions.”

To me, this means Dave thinks Wilson has a shot at winning the MVP…. and I concur…

Again, I don’t think you’re a very good lawyer, not be mention being a Sore Loser when you lost to me on many predictions and arguments…. but I’m glad you’re still employed…

It honestly feels like Seattle could knock off the nest teams in the league and still get no hype. It seems like they could win back to back SB’s and people would still look them over and give them no love. It’s just something we have to come to expect living in Seattle….no matter what we will not get the pub and hype they get in New England or wherever

Agree pabs we haven’t been the ‘featured’ game for the past several weeks for good reason. That will change in the next two games – the national press is already talking about Saints at SEA.

Love the ‘Russell Tour’ – he represents us so well.

Did anyone notice on MNF when they referred to the Carolina secondary as the “Legion of Whom” ?? Thought that was some nice indirect praise of our guys. The said something to the effect that everyone knows the Legion of Boom and that Carolina is trying to get the same recognition.

“I swear there are some people on here that have the comprehension and understanding of my dog. All she hears is blah, blah, Wickie, blah, blah food, blah, blah pottie…”

Lol, that’s what I was thinking last year when some folks actually believed that Flynn was the best option to be the Seahawks QB. Even after Flynn’s noodle arm display in pre season was no match for Wilson.

GeorgiaHawk,, yup yup,, those same people called me crazy/other names,, because I was saying let’s trade Flynn already before his stock were relatively up before the season began,, and there were a lot of QB need/injuries during the pre-season….

LVHawk- I picked the Redskins over the 49ers also.
Three times now I have missed submitting the Thursday night game. Last week I missed it by one minute. I was so mad at the time but it turned out good because I made all the other picks so fast, (with a gut feeling) and ended up with 12 right.
Funny that the week I spent the most time thinking about the picks I ended up with only 3 right. Lol.

MVP is 50% gaudy stats and 50% popularity contest. It’s also not an award that’s often won by a young player. Manning won his first one when he was 28 years old. It’s also not the award we want. Winning the Superbowl in your second season would mean more than winning the year MVP for the regular season. I’m pretty sure Russell Wilson would prefer the title world champion over any other. Any other award would just be gravy on top of that Lombardi. Let’s win these next five games and get home field for the playoffs.

I think there’s a lot more attention going the Seahawks way this season…..and last season too actually.
Everytime I watch shows like PTI, or even the pre-game shows on Sundays, the Hawks are mentioned quite favorably.
Were the Broncos getting more attention, sure….but Manning will have that effect.
I do believe that their 9-1 record, combined with some of their blowout wins last year…….and then you have to consider that Sherman is bringing all kinds of attention to Seattle…good and bad.
People are noticing….not like past years.
Teams in New York, Dallas, Philly, etc…..will always get more press just because of their markets…..but Seattle is closing the gap. And if they win the SB, well I think there’s going to be a major shift in coverage and conversations had in places other than the PNW!

Georgia – agree you gotta go with your gut and pick them w/o overthinking. I’m concerned that I’ve done well enough that it’s tempting to actually bet money, especially being here in Vegas. Fortunately these picks don’t involve point spreads otherwise I’d lose every time. Thankfully I don’t play cards, only slots. I’ve kept track and I’m still up $10 for my 8 months in Vegas!

Yank – regarding Redskins over SF – yep, a little ‘wishful thinking’ for sure but I’m looking big time at MNF at home for the Skins and the fact that they haven’t come close to having a decent year. This might be their last chance to do something special. RGIII is getting healthier and I’m thinking that Kaep is really feeling the heat for his lousy year. If he starts off bad and misses a couple throws or gets a pick I see him regressing in the limelight. My prediction is 17-16 Redskins. BTW – one of my favorite things to do now is to read the SF blogs – pretty funny how much they are all over Kaep and Roman. Love it.

Adding another comment on a conversation from yesterday regarding best coaches of Seahawks past and present. More of a Wilson comment actually. Carroll first two years 7-9, 7-9. Fourteen wins against eighteen losses. Carroll next two seasons SW (Since Wilson) 11-5, 10-1(so far) Twenty one wins against only six losses. That is a major improvement and shows were we’re headed. Of course it’s way more than just the Wilson addition. The overall talent has been increased a ton over these four seasons. This team is stocked with talent and skill. The young players now have experience to go along with their abilities. We are looking at one of, if not the most competitive, complete team we’ve ever seen. It just gets better from here. Enjoy.

When does the MVP voting take place? ie end of the regular season, after the Super Bowl(I dont think this the case), just before the Super Bowl… I ask this question due to Mannings proclivity to play poorly in cold weather/play offs. If the Broncos lose their first play off game, and Wilson is still steam rolling his way to the Super Bowl, I could see a conversation to be made. If it is at th end of the regular season, manning wins in a land slide.

LOL chuck_easton,, you claim to be a lawyer but doesn’t seem like you’re very good at it… especially since you probably failed read the part below,,

Dave said : “My thought is that the best shot for Wilson is continued team domination, which might cause voters to re-evaluate the importance of the non-statistical factors of leadership, versatility, etc. But, as we’ve seen for nearly two seasons, Wilson has a history of causing people to alter their perspectives and false assumptions.”

To me, this means Dave thinks Wilson has a shot at winning the MVP…. and I concur…

Again, I don’t think you’re a very good lawyer, not be mention being a Sore Loser when you lost to me on many predictions and arguments…. but I’m glad you’re still employed…

HawkfaninMT,, That’s a Great Point!! I think RW would have won the ROY last year if they waited to watch the last 3 games of the season where he was Killing Defenses…. I really hope they wait until Monday after Week 17 to submit the MVP Votes,, other wise RW’s 15-1 record wouldn’t matter.

Chuck, You have a smart dog. Understands more than just Wickie. By the way what kind of name is that for a dog? As far as MVP for DangeRuss, slim to none, and Slim left town. This team doesn’t need those kinds of distractions anyway. Back to 1-0 every week. Keep it simple and focused on team unity. I think individual awards undermine that. Just like alot of fat contracts seem to. At least in the world of salary caps.

Reposting your same post within the same thread now Yakinta? It was that great we should all read it twice?

And please let’s ALL try to get a handle on what an upset pick means. Cleveland is favored over PIT, so that doesn’t count. AZ is favored at home over Indy and the rams are favored at home over Chicago.

Back on topic, it would take a lot for RW to be MVP this year, a dominating win over New Orleans would help, and some kind of catastrophe happening to Manning in the next few weeks.

I’m out to lunch in Raleigh, NC and the guys at next table talking football. Bring up how good Seahawks are, but probably will lose to NO. I’m shocked since I’m at a pizza place across from NC State where Wilson played for a few years. In my head all I could think was that NO will have their hands full on Monday night. I go with the home team in that game. Glad it’s in Seattle.

I spectifically mentioned no particular names, just made an observation. And yet a few posters immediately assumed I was referring to them and chose to make personal attacks. Perhaps they saw themselves and the cold hard reality was more of a slap in the face than they could handle?

tealskin. We came up with the name Wickie as such:

She is a registered purebred of an American and an American/Canadian grand champion. Her ACA registered name is Chardon’s Wild Card. Not exactly a name you can yell across the dog park.

Chardon’s Wild Card got abbreviated to WC to which my then toddler son pronounced as Wickie. The name stuck.

Yanker–You need to leave your opinion of Chucks competence in his career out of your comments. 1) Not germane (you may look this word up on your HS computer Thesaurus or in a real dictionary). 2) No one cares about your opinion on Chucks competence at his profession. 3) it’s insulting. Ie, Troll behavior, and is breaking the blog rules. 4) It blows your cover as anything other than an immature k-12 student.

Chuck–That was funny, if passive-aggressively insulting. But what I really wanna know is..,Who pissed in your wheaties?!

The problem is that Seattle teams haven’t deserved alot of media attention for a very long time, except for one blip in 2005. Win some big games and all that changes. The rest of the country really isn’t that blind.

Dukeshire,, lol I know exactly how the oddsmakers operate. Probably a lot more than you because I used to be heavy into Online Sports Bets (mostly College Football)….but I stopped for good several years ago….

What I was trying to say was,,, Vegas doesn’t think that People still think Colts are a true legit team. I know home team always get 3 points by default…the fact that Cardinals are still favored by 1 point means they’re still kind of underdog,, but not as big of an underdog as they would have been, if people’s opinion of Colts from 4 weeks ago remain the same,,

Conclusion. The hype for Colts and Andrew Luck are dying faster than I thought. In the very near future, we will hear it take its final breath with a whimper and there will be No Question on Who the best QB of 2012 class is….. RW or DangerRuss. Even now, Some of the poor people who go brainwashed by ESPN on Luck Hype are starting to see the Light. which makes me happy.

Nobody particularily pissed in my wheaties today. And Ewalters I was already on my second cup of coffee when I typed it.

Try as I might to not engage certain immature posters I can only take so much of:

“I’m right. I’m always right…how can so and so National Personality who is getting paid quite well to give their opinion be so wrong when I am so right? Everyone who doesn’t agree with me is an idiot. Even when I’m wrong I was really right, but the sun got in the players eyes and the Moon was in retrograde with Mercury rising and since I didn’t check the star charts that morning I wasn’t aware, so I would have been right if all that hadn’t happened so I’m still alawys right…”

It was a moment of weekness to lower myself to Jr High level. It won’t happen again. I’ll go back to happily ignoring every repetitive, annoying, nonsensical, and non-productive post.

If the Seahawks win the next 2 weeks, the hype train would be larger than we’ve ever seen.

I think MVP should be determined based on how a team would do in the regular season without the candidate. To me, if the Seahawks finished 15-1 with Russell Wilson then they would finish 11-5 without him. That should be good enough to win the division. If either Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady were lost for the season, I don’t think any of those teams would even have winning records.

All NFL awards are voted on right after the conclusion of the regular season and prior to the playoffs starting. Only 12 teams make the playoffs out of 32.

So, no playoff stats or performances are used to sway the voters towards any player(s) who happen to catch fire.

That way, in theory at least, every player on every team is in the running. But we all know the truth is the winners of the “most likely to be pretty after high school” awards always go to certain players with gaudy numbers, who play on a National sweetheart team, and their team is more than likely going to the playoffs.

Tez was one of the few players EVER to win one of the year end awards while playing for a really bad team.

“The Seahawks are the equivalent of the NFL Witness Protection Program. Go play for the Seahawks. Spend your life in total anonymity.”

That’s been true – but I think it started changing the day they hired Carroll, and has only increased as we’ve started winning and guys like Sherman and Wilson are such prominent players in the league now.

Watching TV, suddenly Hawks references and jerseys (in things like NFL tickets, and Madden video games) are around way more now that I can remember them being before.

Let’s keep in mind that the source of this speculation is just another version of ESPN’s power rankings, which is really just speculating on speculation. People are trying to overthink these awards. Media hype is everything with them and Boling lays out nicely why Wilson has zero chance. Manning is on another record setting year and that’s all that matters to the voters. The voters aren’t winning their fantasy football leagues on the back of Wilson, so he’s not in consideration.

“Vegas doesn’t think that People still think Colts are a true legit team.”

Vegas doesn’t set NFL lines based on who they think the general public thinks will win. They set the line according to what they think the score will be, so that a professional gambler doesn’t drop 6 figures on a bad line 10 minutes before the game starts and clean up. The vegas line setters are incredibly accurate, and its not because they are judging public perception.

Wow, great discussions for a bye week! I filed this post and then had to head off for the KJR roundtable and came back to find 81 comments. One of the things Mitch was asking this morning was for thoughts about the “team” MVP, listing Wilson, Lynch, ET and Sherman as four possibilities. Plenty of merits for each. But I decided on Wilson because of his capacity to win games (and stay alive) in the seven games missing both Okung and Giacomini.

But I could be swayed in other directions, too. I believe Lynch almost single-handedly elevated the expectations of toughness for the whole team when he arrived. ET might be the league’s top defender, and Sherman the best corner.

The people that actually have a say in who wins the MVP award focus on numbers. As Dave said in his very detailed and well written article, if Payton Manning stopped playing for the rest of the season Wilson would have to throw 3 TD’s a game (15 total passing TD’s) and throw for about 1,500 to 2,000 yards just to have the same year end stats as Payton.

Throw in all of Payton’s commercial work, Payton’s name recognition, his personal fame, and he is so far ahead of every other potential candidate they might as well engrave his name on the trophy today.

Here’s a test for anyone who is not willing or able to see this harsh reality in their unending quest to have Wilson Knighted by the Queen, Cannonized and appointed to Sainthood by the Pope, and given the Nobel Prize for being an all around SWELL guy.

Take a picture of Wilson without any reference to who he is and out of his Seahawks uniform. Also take a similar picture of Payton. Show them to any spouse, friend, associate, passer-by, human with a pulse and vision. Ask them to idenify either of the men in the photos.

Without having the empherical data in front of me I can predict with very little doubt which of the two would be correctly identified by the larger sample size.

If the Hawks finish anything above 12-4 I’ll be thrilled. I think the 2 road games will be very tough. We know it’s been a while in San Fran, but playing in NY will be tough as well. It’ll be at the end of a very tough stretch to start December and I fear we may be a little fatigued.

If we take care of business at home, we should still get HFA.

Regarding R Dub winning MVP, it would be nice but not imperative. There is no doubt that when you lose your star QB things change quickly (see Packers). Russ is our MVP and I doubt we’d only have 1 loss at this point with Tjack, but I would contend that our running game and defense are better than what the Broncos, Saints, Packers or Patriots have going for them. Carolina is pretty balanced too and I do wonder what it’d look like if they had a drop back QB to back up Cam and what he might do.

Nonetheless, I’m just enjoying the ride. Even when we were way down to the Bucs, I was never worried. The only games that I’ve really sweated it out were Houston, St. Louis and Indy. Every other game felt like we would eventually win.

I still feel like we might struggle on those tough 3rd and 6 conversions without that big WR. Kearse may be the guy and I hope I’m wrong (again), but until we get that Michael Irvin, Cris Carter guy to go across the middle, I feel offensively it will be our Achilles heal.

In the final 8 games of 2011, Jackson finished 5-3 missing 3 OL starters and Sidney Rice. The Defense was not as good as it is now. 2 of those losses saw the Defense blowing very late 4th quarter leads against the 49ers and Redskins. He had a QB Rating around 88 in those 8 games.

So it’s not a huge stretch to say he could go 11-5 here. The Seahawks are the most complete team in the NFL right now and their schedule over the first 11 games hasn’t been difficult (5 games against 1-2 win teams and just 4 against teams with winning records).

T Jack is not that bad of a QB.He fits the system and has good chemistry with the offense.I personally think this team can win 11 games with him.Maybe won’t go far as the first playoff game,but there’s no reason to believe this team can’t win with T jack.Hopefully we never find out.

Youre good Chuck. My comment was meant a bit gentler than it sounds; ah, the failure of words…Your comment was a bit out of character is all…everyone needs to blow off steam at some point–some of us more than others–so your fine.

The team was just as injury ravaged in 2011 and Jackson finished the year 5-3 with a QB Rating in the high 80s. 2 of those losses saw the Defense blowing very late leads. There can be no debating these points.

It benefits Jackson greatly he has been in this offense his entire career. He would not be able to duplicate the level he would play for Seattle anywhere else. He is perfect for this offense and this offense is perfect for him.

Jackson would be a better backup than BJ Daniels this year, 2014, 2015, 2016 and so on.

We’re still in never-never land as far as the media goes. We just don’t sell airtime like other big market teams. Case in point, Rich Eisen’s NFL podcast (two hours long, comes out every Tuesday…makes for some good drive-to-work listening) this week made like one or two cursory references to the Seahawks this week. And we’re 10-1.

But not like any of us on here ever really cared about the mainstream media in the first place. 11 days until Monday Night….

T-Jack is better. Don’t know how, or why, but he has improved. Not to mention the fact that our team is so much better. If Jackson could score a qb rating of 88 his last 8 games for us with that team, I believe he could earn a rating in the nineties now. Which could win more than 11 games.

Jackson’s biggest problem was lacking the ability to drive downfield and win a game in the fourth quarter. He lacked awareness in the pocket. He seems to have improved, we’ve improved as a team, I think we could win it all with T-Jack; it would just be harder.

If Dilfer, McMahon, Simms, and other limited talent qb’s can win it, so can Jackson.

pabs the Broncos not only made the playoffs without Manning in 2011 they actually won a playoff game. Something Manning couldn’t do for them last year.
The Seahawks with Jackson might win 9 games at best and with all the injuries to the o-line Jackson wouldn’t have made it halfway through the season without landing on IR.

Lol, How do we know Jackson has improved? Hopefully he has but how do we really know that for sure?
Remember his fourth qtr qb rating was awful. and his last 2 minutes of the half rating was atrocious.

Georgia – the injuries on Offense have affected Wilson’s ability to work his 4th quarter magic this year. The Seahawks have trailed in the 4th quarter 4 times this year and Wilson has thrown INTs while trying to bring the team back in 3 of those games (at Houston, at Indy and vs TB). Only once was he turnover free (vs Carolina). They were able to overcome the turnover in both games they faced current 2 win teams.

Your big thing about Jackson was his inability to bring a team back in the 4th quarter, but with the same injuries Wilson is performing poorly in the same situations. The Seahawks are fortunate that in 2 of those games they were facing the teams they did.

That being said, with the Offense now fully healthy (like last year), I expect for Wilson to return to his 2012 ways when it comes to end of game magic.

STTBM i too believe TJ is better this year, i think the reality check of him not being starter material and accepting his role as backup combined with how close he was to being out of the league forced him to up it to another level. Anyways with this team he could definitely win more games.

Georgia–I watched Jackson closely, in preseason and in his garbage time during this season. That is all we have to go on. No one really knows how Jackson would perform, certainly it’s possible he hasn’t improved, but IMO he has.

Also, our entire team is even better. Our WR corps is much improved, both by addition and subtraction, but because Tate and Baldwin have improved dramatically. Even if he plays the same way, the team around him is better, so the results would likely be better.

It’s my opinion watching Wilson execute this offense has helped Jackson. He seems to have improved awareness, accuracy, and confidence. And his teammates–like Baldwin–support him. If they believe he can do it, that counts for more than drunken fan opinions.

There’s no way to know how well Jackson would have played in place of Wilson. But I believe he’d do very well; you don’t. Lets all hope we never find out. And that the line comes together. And that RW stops throwing fourth quarter picks…

pabs- Hasn’t Wilson collected four 4th qtr comeback wins already this year.
Wilson arguably is working more magic this season then last year at the same point with much worse pass protection.
Wilson started really taking off at the end of last year so I expect the same this year.
Has Jackson ever had a comeback win? We would be lucky to have five wins right now with Jackson behind the line that Wilson has had to work with this year.
Jackson wouldn’t have even made it without a season ending injury imo.
And by far this team is facing much better defenses then Jackson did in 2011.

I counted 3 4th quarter comebacks this year. But is a 4th quarter comeback against TB at home and at Houston after Schuab threw a pick 6 to tie the game really something to be proud of? Those teams are 4-16 this year.

You forget how injured that OL was for the second half of 2011. They lost the LT, RT and RG for the season due to injury. Sidney Rice and Mike Williams were both lost for the season to injury. Is that any different than this year? Just 3 of those 8 games had teams with losing records. They averaged 25 points per game over those final 8 games in 2011 which was pretty impressive.

Yup,, your welcome. Our Pass Protection ranked 28th in the league. I don’t care which QB you put back there,, they’ll get killed….only RW would have and could have/ Actually has brought us to win 10 games so far…. that’s why he should be the MVP but most East Coast Media do not know this…

Of course it is something to be proud of.
Houston wasn’t a bad team when we played them, they had the best defense in the NFL. And the bucs record doesn’t indicate how good they are right now.

Things can happen one way or another that can effect how teams do,(like the Packers losing Rodgers). That would be an easy win for us right now.
To me it’s how good a team is playing when we play them, not what their record is.
The Rams are another good example. They may be in last place but they are playing better each week and probably will give us another tough game at the Clink.

HawkFrom Day! … I never saw a video of the Rhodes story, it was during training camp one year at Cheney.

As for T-Jack, I’m with the crew who suspects he’d do a pretty good job if he had to be thrown in there. I thought he showed well in training camp, preseason, and when he’s been in there in mop-up.

We see him handling scout stuff in practice all the time. The guy’s velocity and arm strength has never been a question. And he still smokes that thing. His troubles came with a certain route or two, holding the ball a little too long, and not finishing well in the 2 and 4-minute situations.

My opinion is they’re lucky to have him, and there’s probably at least half a dozen teams who would love to him as a starter right now. Nobody questions his toughness or his commitment to the team.

Can you guys imagine going through this year with Brady Quinn? Not only would I have a heart attack everytime Wilson got hit, I would put this team’s record at 7-9 over an entire season with Quinn. There’s your MVP Candidate now.

In terms of Jackson holding the ball too long, I saw that as a problem when he was throwing to Mike Williams/Deion Butler/Ben Obomanu/etc, but I don’t think it will be a problem throwing to Harvin/Tate/Kearse/Baldwin/Lockette. Even Wilson held the ball too long earlier this year.

GeorgiaHawk,, I completely agree with you…. The way I see it. There are 3 types of Football Fans.

1) There are cascual fans, who know very little about Football and just don’t really care.
2) There are intermediate fans who knows a lot but they only look on the surface. They don’t really try to question so-called experts say on TV and don’t really know or want to look beneath the surface.

3) Then, there are those of us who love looking beneath the surface and disagree/call out these so-called experts.

On the surface, that Houston game was won by Richard Sherman and Schuab throwing int to let us tie the game. But there are those of us that know what led to that…how in a Tough environment where our Run Game was Completely shut down and Lynch asked RW to take over in the 2nd half because he knew he could do nothing with that D-line kicking our O-line butts….Our Defense was getting lit up in the first half,, RW ALONE brought us back after being down double digits, with his Incredible playing making feet+arm. Even if Schuab didn’t throw that pick, we were going to get the ball back and RW was going to tie the game with 3 min left….. again,, only a few of us really know this….

Yes, because the world knows Peyton Manning Chokes in Big Games (he has 7 early exits) and Jim Irsay made the game too big for him. And Yes I’m less impressed with Colts beating us because Ron Winter’s inept crew help them with 4+ calls….

Pure speculation. Not facts! One player alone does not win or lose a game. If you ever played any team sport you’d know that. Wilson alone can’t do any of the things he does, as amazing as he is, without the proper play call, center exchange, blocking, receivers getting open and catching the ball as well as breaking tackles and or having the defense missing the play. We all certainly know what type of fan you fall under.

You, nor anyone here knows if Russell would have tied the game. That’s called speculation. You love to act like a fact monster, but what you’re talking about is pure homer speculation. This is not knowing it’s hoping and is the opposite of fact.

pabs, How do you explain Jackson holding the ball too long in Minnesota?

before anyone thinks I hate Jackson I want to say that I think he is a good backup, and I agree with Dave that he could probably start for a few NFL teams.
I would much rather have him as backup then Flynn and I think he would hold the fort if Wilson went down.
However I’m not just yet going to rate him as an above average QB that could help get this team 11 wins and perhaps take us deep into the playoffs.
I hope that if it ever comes to him starting for us again that I am wrong.

On the surface 68.6% looks great…. Those of us that looked beneath the surface knew differently. That 50% RG3 passes from inside the pocket were dump down or quick throws to WR’s….which are Easy passes (good for completion % stat),,,They had good WR and they were able to gain yards after the catch,, some even scored TDs…

But those of us that looked beneath the surface also knew last year that Defenses will take that away this Season which will led to RG3’s struggles from the Pocket…..no surprises there…

My father used to have a saying that reminds me of yankitna: If you meet an a**hole (brainwashed, sore loser, et al) in the morning, you just met an a**hole (brainwashed, sore loser, et al). But if you meet a**holes (brainwashed, sore losers, et al) all day long, you’re the a**hole (brainwashed, sore loser, et al). In any case…

Atlanta is just a steaming pile of fail this year, so it’s hard to imagine them winning tonight. Perhaps the Saints could look past them toward the Seahawks game last week, but the Falcons are just so bad that I can’t see them competing at all.

This will probably get lost in all the replies here, but if you haven’t seen this video yet, it’s definitely worth 5 minutes of your life. Richard Sherman mic’d up against the Vikes. Hilarious…and the last 30 seconds or so when he’s chatting with Marshawn and Real Rob…oh man I was in stitches. You can really tell how much these guys truly love each other. And I mean that sincerely.

RW has thrown 3 Int’s in the fourth quarter this season. He threw on in the red zone vs the bucs. While he has done well, he didn’t do it alone. The D especially helped him out.

And in Hou, his comeback didn’t even get rolling until Cushing went out with injury. He couldn’t do anything vs that D with Cushing in there.

To give RW all the credit is silly. The usual garbage where qb’s get too much credit for the good, too much blame for the bad.

He’s great, but far from perfect, and still a work in progress. How many teams with winning records did he come back to beat? One could say its partly RW’s fault that we were behind vs poor teams; Football Jesus–as many here see him–should be able to put a lead on the board vs inferior teams, he shouldnt need a comeback.

When he can shred first half offenses as well as prevent soft zone, THEN he will qualify as Football Jesus. Not there yet.

Pro Football Focus today confirmed what anyone watching the Seahawks has probably thought all season — they have the best special teams in the NFL.

PFF rated Seattle No. 1 in its updated special teams rankings, and said of the Seahawks:

1. Seattle Seahawks: +31.5
(Penalty Rank 2nd, Tackling Efficiency Rank 1st)
Truthfully, there are 31 other special teams units and then there are the Seattle Seahawks. They do things differently from their mass use of starters to the way they attack every opportunity. Obviously it helps to have brilliant players like Heath Farwell and budding superstar, Jeremy Lane but they are just the icing on the cake. This would be a Top-5 group without them – with them, no one else is close.

STTBM- Until Wilson becomes Peyton Manning he won’t be perfect. After all Manning is sooo clutch in the playoffs.

Amazes me how some create straw man arguments here. Who the hell is giving Wilson all the credit? Other then Yank, (who works for TNT imo) who has said that.
And how can you say he is great and then say in the same sentence that he is a work in progress?

Moffitt the person is interesting. Moffitt the football player (née EX!) is merely frustrating.

Nothing wrong with arguing about whether and to what extent RW could/should win MVP–never said there was. Just find it annoying that some seem to think RW wins games alone and is perfect. Some of the same folks who give the line a free pass, then Nitpick Tate and the other WR’s after they play well. Same folks who blame the D for giving up 20 points but not the O for turning the ball over in their own territory and for being unable to score in the first quarter vs crappy teams…

RW is a great player for a second year qb. I don’t see him as truly elite yet–too many missed reads, off-target throws and fourth quarter picks. But I have utter faith he will become elite in short order.

There’s nothing wrong with saying that. My God, anyone who says he’s less than baby Jesus is branded a traitor here…Pabs is right; RW is this good this fast, while having some obvious flaws–how scary is it he’s destined to get better?!

No QB wins games all alone, however they effect the outcome of the games much more then any other player in sports. So enjoy Wilson while you can STTBM because I doubt we will ever see a better Seahawk QB in our lifetime.

I can’t think of a quarterback I’d rather have than RW. He’s a serviceable passer, but he’s clutch when it counts most, knows when it’s best to use his feet, and the most important intangible about him is his desire to win and leadership. His leadership alone is phenomenal, you can almost feel it through your TV screen when it’s crunch time.

Personally, I think the dude has a time machine and fixes all the problems as they happen, and nobody but him knows.

Wow. Saints have Darren Sproles and Jahri Evans inactive tonight. I know they have decent depth at those spots, but still, that on top of losing Jabari Greer for the season, where they have no depth at CB… certainly it’s not the same Saints team that they fielded at the start of the year.

Funny how on the previous thread that was about Walter Jones, one the best Seahawks, let alone NFL players ever and should be a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee only had twenty two comments. This tread with the thought that Wilson, one of the best current Seahawks/NFL players could be the MVP/(HOF by some) generated one hundred and ninety four comments.
I guess QBs do get a lot more attention than HOF left tackles.

What a waste of time. Thanks Falcons. Saints looked very average tonight, almost like they were holding back. I wonder why…..hmmmmm, maybe they have a real challenge up ahead. Saints do have a solid, tough running game and Jimmy Graham just beats everyone at 6’7″ with speed and hands. They also have a pretty good Dline. One dude was pretty much unblockable tonight, ended up with three sacks I think. 10-11 sacks on the season. Our Oline will have a very tough assignment. I think we can take these guys as their defensive backfield looked just ok. Ryan was completing a lot of passes tonight. Almost 300 yards. I like us at home on the 2nd.

I highly doubt that the Saints could run through us all day long like they did tonight. They really didn’t look that good on the road but Atlanta was about as piss poor as you could get. Stephen Jackson looks like a shell of his former self. I’m more confident after watching this game.

No worries montanamike2, looks like you and I just wasted a few hours we’ll never get back. Going for the 53 yard field goal when down by four with two minutes left seemed like the wrong call. You miss and give Brees the ball back at near mid field. I mean, the Falcons have only won two games and why not go for it? I thought they just choked huge at the end. As Richard Sherman said so well. “you are sorry, stop wasting my time.” Falcons are sorry. Jackson is done.

“But he was right about Matt Flynn having no trade value and I was wrong about that…. :)”

I guess I’ll be the only one to give credit to you for saying this, yankinta. It’s the first time I’ve seen you admit this without some excuse attached. Well done.

If some posters are truly analogous to a dog then perhaps we should be rewarding them when they are good and punishing/ignoring when they are bad? yank was hardly the only poster on this thread being insulting, even if it was thinly veiled. I’m hardly saying I’m above this. I have been out of line many a time. And others have pointed it out. It usually takes two to tango.

I think RW has next to no chance to win the MVP, and I don’t particularly care. It’s not because I don’t think he’s deserving. It would be nice I guess, but it is not a hell of a lot better than being #1 in one of those power rankings. Why do we need respect from the East Coast media? It reminds me of a battered spouse constantly going back for affection.

The Seahawks are getting more notice, however the information being related nationally isn’t always true much of the time. I was actually so upset I screamed at the TV the other night. I was watching NFL Network, the broadcasters were talking about CK and actually defending the year he is having. One commentator said “he is having a fine year, look at all the 2nd Year Quarterbacks RGIII, CK, Luck, RW all of their numbers are down this year” I wanted to reach through the TV and smack him, RW’s numbers are not down. But of course if he told the truth it wouldn’t have made his point :P.

Bravo to John McGrath for a fantastic article on Paul Allen’s ownership of the Seahawks. Excellent work.

This Forbes article is laughable. How is Mike Brown not dead last?

The recent $2.4M donation makes me exceedingly proud of the organization and our owner. Nice to see someone with the resources take action toward addressing the biggest issue facing our favorite sport. We already had the wealthiest and smartest owner – turns out we have the most magnanimous one as well.

Has the NFL reacted to Allen’s donation? His leadership (and potentially guts if the NFL told him not to do this) should be applauded and replicated by other owners.

Player safety should be paramount to the owners – good players = good product on the field = good revenue.

All owners should follow Allen’s lead and put their money where their money is.

bbmate,,, I always admitted that about the trade value. I think you’re confused between the trade value and the trade itself.

All I was saying (my prediction) was that this FO would not trade Matt Flynn for less than 3rd value,, because we did not need to trade Flynn (enough room in the Cap). But that changed because all these Free agents wanted to come here for 20 cents on the dollar,, and we needed room. I was saying no one could have predicted these free agents taking 20 cents on the dollar, just come play for us. We need Flynn space in the cap the extend Kam.

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